I need help analyzing this poem. Here is my analysis of the poem any feedback will be greatly appreciate it.

The title of the poem is The World, so I think that the "it" in the poem is the Earth which is our life. It may not be out of the box but I think that is what she means. The repition in the poem is blantly obvious Raine might be telling us that life is empty and just repeats itself. You wake up go to scool, come home, sleep. Wake up go to school....

Re: The World by Kathleen Raine
Hi, after rearranging the phrases and grouping them based on common themes, I see these groups:

It is traveling.
It is burning.
It is located in a void.

After that I can agree that it could represent Earth (with burning representing an abstract quality of Earth's ecosystem or inhabitants). I could also naïvely infer it refers to the Sun, which also has many qualities of repetition.

However, I one could look for meaning within ourselves. My first thought would be to isolate an instance of a void within ourselves. Loneliness? Fear? Unknown? And then move on into the other qualities. What burns? Desire? Love? Anger? What travels? Us through time?

So if you look deep, I think this could refer to ourselves seeking meaning in our lives. We are in a void until we prove otherwise. It's a burning question we ask ourselves, and we will travel (and seek) it until we find the answer.

I know this might be a little out there, but it's a different perspective anyway. Cheers!

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Nive

1

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Sun 27 Feb, 2005 12:07 pm

This is actually part of DEATH section of this poetry book. Maybe this will help in the interpretation.

I know theres no answer key for poetry but i need to come up with a good explanation .

I like your idea of the burning question but since its about death i dont think it'll fit in too nicely

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hmd25

1

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Fri 8 Jul, 2016 03:51 pm

@Nive,

It is Being, or God. The miracle of Being. Beingness and where it comes from.